Hanging Out With Matt & Angie Smith before Race Day

One of our favorite things about November at Affliction is definitely the NHRA Winter Nationals at Pomona Raceway. Today, Matt and Angie Smith came by to grab some new gear and talk racing with the Affliction crew at Seal Beach. You won’t believe what Matt’s “secret power food” is before racing…..

How do you guys expect the bikes to run this weekend at Pomona?

Matt: Well, we just came from Vegas and we ran really good. We had five bikes that raced, 2 of us qualified taking 2nd and 3rd, and I got beat in the finals. We have a good team and expect to do well out here this weekend.

When you’re pulling up to the line, what goes through your mind just before hitting the throttle?

Angie: You have to do your job. You have to have a good reaction time, and you usually replay the whole run in your mind before you even to a burn out heading up to the line. When you’re up there at the line, you have to be focused on cutting a good light and going straight and doing the very best you can on that run.

What do you eat before you race?

Angie: Nothing! [laughs] The first round I don’t eat anything! Your nerves and adrenaline just take over and you don’t want to eat. Once you win or lose it hits you and you’re ready to eat.

What do you eat in celebration after the race?

Angie: Where ever we are going to eat dinner! I usually like to get a big steak after a race.

Matt: Me too- I like getting steak after racing, but I will also nibble on a Reese’s Cup or Kit Kat before the race.

Do you have any rituals the night before a race?

Matt: Normally before the race we are servicing all the bikes and getting them ready for the next day. It’s a lot of maintenance, checking, and making sure nothing is going to blow up~

We saw that you are both very hands on in the pit- is working on your own bike kind of like ‘packing your own parachute’?

Angie: Yeah, it kind of is. I’ve had to learn all the mechanics and logistics over the last five years. I’m very grateful for being able to do that because I can give him [Matt] as a crew chief more feed back than the computers are showing us.

So does it get heated in the pit when you’re telling him what to do?

Angie: [Laughs] It can get heated~ Its been pretty good this year [laughs].

Matt: Yeah, it can be- like Angie said, there have been seasons where we’ve been at each others throats, but other than that we’ve had a good year.

This year the team is doing great sitting in 3rd place after coming off of a championship win last year. This weekend the Smith Race Team heads to Pomona Raceway for the NHRA Winter Qualifying starting Friday, November 14th and finishing up with race day on Sunday November 16th.